What’s it really like to buy a doer upper?

[NoFreakingClue]

DH and I have spent months looking for a house and we found one that we like and plan to put an offer on. Still trying to decide if the area is right for us, but I’m wondering if we’re clueless about what it will entail?

It’s a 4 bedroom, two living room, one dining room house. The previous owners were elderly and have passed away, so it needs a lot of updating. As far as we can tell, it’s in good condition, but it will need:

1. New kitchen
2. New bathroom (the main bathroom has just a shower instead of a bathtub)
3. New carpets and flooring
4. Paint the walls.

Now this is on the assumption that the condition is fine and the house simply needs to be updated.

We have busy lives and a toddler, so I think if we get someone like Wickes to do the kitchen and bathroom, another company for the flooring and a tradesman for the walls, it will take maybe three months in total and around £50k. We can stay in our current home before we move in so I think the stress of it will be arranging the various works and that’s it.

Am I massively underestimating all this? DH think it will take six months and £100k.

It's always double the time and money you think it will be, your husband is right.

Better to budget for the higher end and be pleasantly surprised if it comes under.

Your DH is correct.

Although we had a full structural survey (which I would recommend) done prior to buying our 30s house there were still a few things that we discovered after moving in like a defunct flue that was asbestos but covered by a wall unit and a leak under the house on the incoming water supply pipe.

So br prepared for the unexpected.

Do a rough estimate of what you think it will cost, double it and add some.
Same for the timescales.

It can be a nightmare, everything you remove may well show more issues. However, when it is complete the sense of achievement will make it all worthwhile.

If it has had elderly owners, I would be checking electrics & plumbing as well as the work you have described.

i think your husband is correct, at least 6 months and probably £100k

Nine years later and we still haven’t finished! Although we have saved up for each job and not taken out any loans or credit to do it, so that has taken longer. There was far more to do than we ever imagined, but we have also done most of it ourselves!

As PP have said it always takes longer and costs more so have a healthy contingency budget and maybe a plan for somewhere you get away too when you don’t have a bathroom/ kitchen. Our kitchen went longer than expected so I de-camped to my mums for a couple of weeks which was a godsend. If it hasn’t been touched for a while it’s likely there will be more than just cosmetics to sort. A level 3 survey will help you unpick what you need to do. Given that you are ripping out the kitchen and the bathroom and are redecorating if you do need to rewire or replace floorboards or similar it’s not as though you are having to rip apart a recently done up house….

I did a renovation in 2019, 3 bed 2 living room...

I had the full house plastered including ceilings; £5000.
Full electric re-wire including external lights and spotlights, £2500 (I think he quoted wrongly to be honest, it should have been more).
Bathroom from Wickes; £2500 including tiles.
Bathroom fitter; £1900.
We painted the house ourselves.
Carpets upstairs; £2000.
Flooring downstairs; £2000.

It took us from February-August but we had a 6 week delay from the plasterer and we couldn't do anything in the meantime.

We didn't have a new kitchen we just painted the cabinets as the kitchen was in good condition. I can't see it costing you more than £50k if it's literally just a kitchen, bathroom and painting.

I'd do it again.

Good luck x

It was 2021 not 2019 🤦🏼‍♀️

We recently had a new bathroom. Getting the tradesmen is a big issue. We waited 6 months til they had room to do a bathroom, but we used that time to sort everything out, make decisions etc, once they were in it took 3 weeks.

Gosh, so I am underestimating… That is helpful to know.

Question - when companies like Wickes and Carpetrite offer installation, why would you need to find a tradesman to do it instead?

We are the same as you , sale going through . Only thing is we haven't got a penny saved to do the big jobs so we are starting with cosmetic while we save . The kitchen is dyer ☹️

We bought a doer upper last year, similarly to you we have young children and our house was last decorated in 1985 so in need of a complete revamp.

Ditto what others have said re time and money. We've had difficulties with finding tradesmen in general, then within that finding good tradesmen. All priced through the roof. Then there's the delays for when they can start as they're all booked up for months. If your job is small or anything remotely unusual then in our experience they come out to quote and then you never hear from them again. Subsequently we've taught ourselves a lot of DIY 😅

Don't get me wrong, we're still happy with our decision as it was the only way to afford a house of this size in the location it's in (and it's already been valued at over £100k more than we paid for it last year ago with the small bits of reno that we've done to date). For us buying the worst house on the best street is currently paying off but it's definitely not for those that want a quick transformation!

Sometimes (often!) a separate tradesperson is cheaper than what they try to sell you in-house. My DH worked for a well-known DIY store a few years ago and said he'd never use their "approved in-house fitters" as realistically they're small individual companies who just have to send a photo or two of something they claim to have installed themselves to be used as fitters operating under the store name.

Depends whether it really is just the things you've listed, in which case £50k should be ok, or whether a raft of other things will come to light.

3 months would be reasonable if you could coordinate everyone to work perfectly together but in reality they won't, so 6 months is more likely.

It is long and expensive and requires the patience and flexibility, but it is doable, and you get what you want at the end of it, rather than living with somebody elses taste in kitchen doors which is the major draw.

May need rewire re-plumbing costs can easily go up, also factor in the fact you may see things you want that are more expensive, doing up mine a raft of issues like stripping wall paper brought all the plaster of, took up a tiled floor needed levelling and ripped out bathroom to rotten floor boards, so i think your DH is probably closer

I got the keys for mine 12 October, got upstairs decorated & moved in 31October, managed with kettle, toaster, microwave & dishwasher until kitchen finished on 1 December. Used one of bedrooms as a dining room & had takeaways or ready meals until kitchen was finished.

Honestly - it’s ‘ducking awful!

no one will quote for work and if they do, they won’t show up to do it
everything is double the price you think it will be
you can get the grand sum of ‘duck all done yourself with a toddler around
look out for wallpaper - it’s a massive pain in the rear to get off yourself and no decorator will touch it

sorry! X

We just had a normal bathroom redone : take out bath, install walk in shower, shower panels on tiling, new basin on existing unit. New loo and cabinets. Five day job £ 8k. It was all in good order, no re plumbing, no new walls or tiling .

I had the job booked for six months ahead.

Unless you are doing structural changes like extension or reinforcement then it should not come anywhere close to £100k.

I’ve done up two wrecks and two other pretty decrepit properties. Plus I lived in some dumps as a child that my parents had to scrimp and save to remodel.

There’s always something that emerges that you weren’t expecting. I’d advise you to live there a while, make careful investigations and test everything before you begin, because i guarantee that it won’t just be a new kitchen, bathroom and painting when you get to work. For example, there’s no point in installing a new bathroom if your plumbing is on its last legs. Ditto, boilers, radiators and central heating - don’t decorate a room if the radiators are kaput and need replacing or the system is ancient and unreliable or the pipe work has had it.

We have renovated four houses and we did it ourselves, bar the certificated elements and plastering. We tried to get trades to quote on number one and after we'd recovered from the shock at the stupid prices they wanted (we didn't have the money to fund purchase of a small island somewhere) we got on and learned on the job so to speak. You can be savvy with purchasing items, getting independent fitters but remember the hidden issues, with water, plaster and the usual bodgery that you only find after you purchase the money pit! We never had the luxury of not living in the chaos but have learned that whatever you think it will cost, even doing it yourself, you are probably going to pay double! We also gave up on surveyors after idiot number one (missed an external wall split and brick failure in roof, alongside a cracked drain - we didn't buy this house as my Dad, a skilled amateur diyer, spotted the issues before exchange) and got a builder to do a walk round of subsequent homes, which really was far better and more realistic. Also have a plan, it really does help not to have to repeat / redo work.

You sound like us 16 or so years ago when we bought a wreck. I was pregnant too which didn't help. It was immensely hard work but ultimately worth it as we couldn't have afforded this house if it had been in good nick. We didn't even have a fully functioning bathroom 😫
My advice would be if you can afford it rent somewhere to live while you are doing it up. We didn't and it was horrible living in a filthy building site. If you can't afford to do that get one room and 1 bedroom decent enough so you can all escape from the rest of the house.

And don't rush it.

Good luck 🙂

Lead times for good tradespeople are longish at the mo so I would book stuff in now if you want it done before Christmas.